


The One With The Marauders

by verdant



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Gen, Marauders, Marauders' Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-15
Updated: 2015-01-15
Packaged: 2018-03-07 15:11:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3176627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/verdant/pseuds/verdant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Marauders era Friends!AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The One With The Marauders

**Author's Note:**

> Guess who did a rewatch of all of Friends rather than working on her Media paper. All I could think about was wanting to turn it into a Marauders AU. None of the characters match perfectly with the Friends characters, so sometimes circumstances with call for a mixing of characters or a switch.
> 
> I do not own Friends, and I do not own Harry Potter.

It was a cold December night at Hogwarts and a small group of sixth years had gathered in front of the fireplace of the Gryffindor common room. “So you guys, I am going to be doing all new material tonight.” Peter said as he continued to tune his guitar. “I have twelve new songs about the impending war and one about a Pygmy Puff.” Lily and Remus grimaced and looked down at their papers. James, however, stifled a laugh before advising, “You may want to open with the Pygmy Puff.

At that moment, Sirius Black ambled out of the portrait hole wearing what appeared to be a Santa suit made for someone three times as big as him. After briefly scanning the common room, he made his way toward the group. “Hey Padfoot, how’d it go?” James asked. Sirius moaned as he threw himself down on the worn couch next to Lily and Remus. “Terrible! The beard was incredibly itchy, and then McGonagall found out and sent everyone back to their common rooms.” 

Remus chuckled, “You’re kidding? You mean your terrible plan to trick all the girls of dueling club sit on your lap and whisper in your ear didn’t work? I’m shocked!”

Sirius simply let out a louder moan and began to flail his arms in exasperation. “I know she just put a stop to it because she can’t be seen sitting on my lap! Our love is bound to be damned!” He sighed and let his arms fall limp, leaving his knuckles in dangerous proximity to Remus’ face.

Unable to let the opportunity pass, Remus leaned forward and licked a wet line along Sirius’ hand. Jerking out of his melancholy, Sirius let out a yelp and rolled off the back of the couch, nearly running into Marlene McKinnon. Balancing the two mugs of hot chocolate she was carrying, she carefully sidestepped the thrashing Santa, and made her way to the couch. She sat down next to Lily and handed her one of the mugs before turning around to the group. “Hey, do you guys know what you’re doing for New Years?” 

Groans erupted from the two seated next to her, and Peter threw a wad of paper that was met in the air by the pillows James and Sirius threw at her. She dodged all projectiles and bewilderedly asked, “Merlin’s beard! What is wrong with New Years?!?” 

James rolled his eyes and scoffed, “Oh, nothing for you, you have Giovanni!” James purred out the Ravenclaw’s name. “You don’t have to deal with the pressures holiday traditions bring! Kissing under a mistletoe is one thing, but having to scramble madly to find someone willing to lock lips with you for that sacred moment the clock strikes twelve is inhumane!”

James looked around and realized how loudly he was talking as half of the common room was staring at him. But not before he locked eyes with the very person that he wished he could kiss that New Years. 

Lily quickly looked away and James blushed, wishing that the plush armchair would swallow him. Marlene huffed, “Well for your information, Giovanni’s family will be spending the holiday’s in Rome, so I’ll be just as pathetic as the rest of you!” 

Peter mumbled a short, “yeah, you wish,” before he turned his attention back to his guitar.

James suddenly sat up and proclaimed, “I’ve got an idea!” He paused and surveyed the group, noting the expressions on their faces before he exclaimed, “Dinner!” 

Remus rolled his eyes and put his hands up in a framing gesture as he said drolly “Brilliant! We’ll put it between Lunch and Breakfast!” 

James laughed and threw another cushion toward the werewolf. “You wanker. I just meant that instead of all of us spending that night at our homes alone, we should have a party. Together!” 

Everyone remained silent; James took that as a cue to continue. “My parents will be at some Ministry shindig; I’m sure they’d be fine if I invited a few people over to our place. It’ll be great! Just the six of us! No dates.” At that, everyone looked around and shrugged and all let out assenting noises.

After a few more minutes of planning with the group, Marlene got up on the table in front of the fireplace. “Alright everyone! Here to kick off this month’s Gryffindor Karaoke night is none other than the Marauder himself! Peter Pettigrew!” Scattered applause greeted Peter as he shrugged on his guitar and made his way onto the makeshift stage in the middle of the common room. “Uh, thanks! I want to open with a song about my Pygmy Puff, Steve.”

“Sometimes purple  
Sometimes pink  
How was I supposed to know  
That you could drown in the sink  
La la la la la”

Holding in a unanimous groan, Peter’s friends settled in for a depressing night. However, somewhere in his second song, an argument broke out at a table near the back of the room. Peter stopped singing and turned towards the two girls arguing. “OI! You two! Something you’d like to share with the whole class?” Peter squeaked out. The two girls immediately stopped their bickers and looked at Peter guiltily. 

The taller girl stuttered out a quiet “N-no. Nope. Sorry.” 

Peter rolled his eyes before scoffing, “Right. So you just felt like interrupting a mans singing with arguing about nothing.” 

Sirius snorted and leaned in toward James and whispered conspiringly, “That poor girl is going home with a note.” 

James sniggered and whispered back, “Pete doesn’t mess around on Karaoke night.” 

The shorter brunette that had remained quiet finally spoke up. “I-I was just telling my friend here that you were the cutest guy I’ve ever seen. And she-she said. You-you said.” She turned to her friend hoping she could save her. 

“I said Sirius Black,” her friend replied quietly.

Regaining a bit of courage, the short girl turned back to Peter. “Right, you-she said that Sirius Black was sitting on a couch a few feet away from me, and that I must be mad or blind to think that you were cuter than him. And while I agree he-that he is not bad on the eyes, I said that you had the kind of face that you look at and feel like you can trust to not break your heart. But that’s when you started shouting.” 

The girl immediately turned red again and sat back down and tried to find the table incredibly interesting. Peter stuttered and then turned to the room before setting his guitar down and telling the next person on the queue that they could go on. James leaned toward Sirius, who was sitting on the arm of the chair watching Peter in shock, and whispered, “Looks like she’s going home with more than a note!”

A week later, James, Sirius, Remus, Lily, and Marlene were all found sitting in the common room having finished packing their trunks to leave the next morning. Lily and Marlene sat on the couch,their heads together, muttering over a book while James and Sirius sat on the floor in front of the girls, eyes locked in an intense staring competition that Remus was judging. 

“Sirius, partially closing one eye still counts. James, stop trying to blow into Sirius’ eyes. You’re not being half as covert as you think you are.” Lily paused in her reading and gave Marlene a conspiratorial grin before slamming closed the book they were reading, causing both James and Sirius to startle. Remus and the girls folded over in laughter while the two boys spluttered. After regaining his composure, Remus opened his mouth to declare them both losers when he spotted Peter and his new girlfriend (Madison, as she later introduced herself to the group). 

Remus gently kicked both Sirius and James to get their attention. The boys watched as Peter talked to Madison at the base of the stairs to the girls’ dormitories before pausing and leaning in to kiss her. 

As the kiss went on and the two failed to come up for air, James and Sirius began to cheer. The two finally broke apart, both red, and it was hard to say if it was from embarrassment or lack of air. After another quick peck, Madison finally made her way up to her dormatory.

Peter sat down with the group, a lovesick grin plastered on his face. James laughed and asked, “Alright there, Wormtail?” 

Finally able to realize where he was, Peter composed himself before replying, “It’s just, she’s so wonderful. I just want to be with her all the time. Day and Night. Night and Day…special occasions…” 

Sirius sat up quickly. “Whoa whoa whoa, I see where this is going. You want to invite her to our New Years party.” He narrowed his eyes, glaring at Peter. “You sneaky little rat! We made a pact!” 

Peter looked at James and pleaded, “Could I please?” 

Sighing, James nodded. He knew how much this relationship already meant to Peter. “That’s alright by me. What does everyone else think?” He asked turning toward Sirius first. 

With a growing grin, Sirius shrugged and replied, “sounds great. I already invited Breann, that Hufflepuff I met up with last night,” glad that he wasn’t the one to break the previously sacred pact

James rolled his eyes, and scoffed, “Does a pact mean nothing to you men?” Lily coughed quietly, letting out a gentle “... uh.” James whipped around to face her, confusion apparent on his face. “I’m sorry! Benjy was going on and on about how he was going to be all alone at his place and I felt bad so I invited him and I’m sorry!” 

James threw his hands up and shouted, “I can’t believe it! On our no-date evening, three of you now how dates!” 

Marlene looked down at her hands and muttered, “Four. Giovanni said his parents want the evening to themselves. So, he’d be able to floo over.” James flopped back onto the floor. 

“Am I going to be the only one standing there alone when the clock strikes twelve?!” Chuckling, Remus patted his shoulder and said, “It’s alright, James. I’ll be your date.” James simply groaned into the carpet.

As the group headed home on the train the next morning, plans were finalized. Everyone was supposed to floo to the Potter Manor around ten pm on New Years Eve.  
Christmas had come and gone rather insignificantly. But now it was currently nine pm on December 31st and the decorations had finally been finished.

James leaned against the doorframe of Sirius’ room as he rummaged around and cleared his throat. “So, uh, I invited someone to the party”, James began. Sirius began looking under his bed without pause as he replied “that’s great mate. Who is the bird?”. Looking down at his feet, he mumbled, “Julie.” 

James heard a thud and a muffled yelp. Sirius sat up, rubbing a spot on his forehead and narrowed his eyes at James. “Julie who”, he asked. James sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “We only know one, Sirius.” 

With a groan, Sirius threw himself on his bed. “Prongs! Why?! She’s obsessed with you mate. And her laugh sounds like a bloody mandrake!” James threw himself on the bed next to his best friend and sighed. “I don’t know, I panicked. I couldn’t handle the pressure and I panicked. I mean, everyone had someone and Lily invited Benjy so I-”. 

He was cut off as a pillow smacked him in the face. “YOU! ARE! SO! THICK!” Sirius emphasized every word with a smack of the pillow. 

Working to kick Sirius off him, James shouted, “GET OFF ME YOU GREAT GIT!” Finally Sirius hit the floor with a satisfying thud. “I’m not saying I’m brilliant, I’m saying I panicked”, he continued. 

Sirius popped up on the other side of the bed holding a boot above his head and shouted, “VICTORY!” He sat back on the bed and began to lace up his boot and said, “whatever. Just try not to make her laugh will you?” He shoved James off the bed and chuckled, “you should probably get ready. People will start getting here soon.”

Lily was the first to show up. James answered the door, and the second he saw her he couldn’t help the stupid grin that found it’s way onto s face. She looked downright amazing. Her red hair curled slightly and was pulled to one side, cascading down her shoulder over her green dress. “Hi”, she said with smile. Unable to think of anything intelligent to say, James simply repeated, “hi.” 

Someone cleared their throat and James tore his eyes from Lily’s and realized that Benjy was standing right next to her. Straightening his shoulders, James grunted out a greeting before gesturing for them both to come inside. “Hey, James, Moony is here. Oh. Hello, Red!” Sirius walked out the library with Remus in tow, brushing floo powder off of his shoulder. 

When Peter and Madison arrived, James nearly burst out laughing. They were holding hands, but sitting on Peter’s shoulder was a giant ball of purple fur. Noticing where James’ attention was, Peter smiled. “Like him? I named him Marcel. My parents got him for me for Christmas. I guess they felt I needed a new one after Steve.” Letting out a brief chuckle, James ushered them to where the rest of the group was. “He’s great Wormtail. Just don’t let him pee on the carpet or anything”, he warned. 

The house elves had created a small feast, which Sirius was quickly making his way through, having forgotten about his date shortly after she arrived in favor of the massive plate of food. James was unable to talk to anyone due to Julie’s unwillingness to stop talking to him even for a second, while Peter and Madison were playing a game of exploding snap with Remus and Lily, while Benjy simply observed quietly. 

Nearly an hour later, a knock on James’ door tore his attention away from Julie - finally. James opened the door to greet Marlene, however, the words fell from his mouth when he took in her appearance. She had obviously been crying as her eyes were puffy and red. She sniffed, “hey, James. Happy New Year.” Unsure of what to say, he ushered her into the entryway. “You alright, Mar?” She smiled weakly and shrugged. “Giovanni and I broke up.” Never one to know how to handle situations like these, James let out a quick, “I’ll be right back.” 

In just a few seconds, he returned with Lily close behind him. The second she saw Marlene she wrapped her in a tight hug before turning to James. “Is there somewhere private I can  
go talk to Marlene for a bit?” Nodding, he turned and led the way to his father’s library and opened the door. After a quick nod from Lily, he turned and left. 

The moment that he returned to the party he was assaulted by Julie once more. “There you are! You got away from me!” She slipped her arm into his and guided him back into the room. “Well, obviously you found me,” he muttered. 

Sirius finally made his way away from the food and to James and Julie. “Ah, if it isn’t Prongs, my old friend. Julie, isn’t it?” She smiled and clung to James tighter before replying with a curt, “Hello, Sirius.” She then turned to James with a broad smile. “What is this ‘Prongs’ nickname? It’s not very cute, I’ll have to come up with a better one for you. Then you can make one for me!”

Grimacing, James wormed his arm out of hers before turning to face her completely. “You know Janice, when I invited you here, I didn’t really intend for it to mean that we were-y’know.” He said, gesturing between them. 

Immediately, she began to tear up. “Oh no.” James winced, he really was incredibly awkward with emotions. “I’m sorry if you misunderstood, Janice.” Sirius let out a bubbling giggle that he had been holding in, but was quickly silenced by a glare from James and put a hand on his mouth to conceal his smirk. 

Janice wiped a tear away and took a step away from the boys. “You know, I should jinx you right now for leading a girl on. You’ve been a horrible date all night, constantly sneaking glances at that girl while I was talking to you. You’ve mucked this up James, and you won’t get another chance.” She whirled around and quickly left. 

Before he could even say anything, James pointed a finger at Sirius. “Don’t. I don’t want to hear any of it or, so help me Merlin, I will Silencio you into oblivion.” Sirius simply replied with a shrug before throwing his arm around James’ shoulder. 

They made their way over to where Peter, Madison and Remus sat. “Where’d Breann run off to?” Sirius asked. Remus looked up and replied, “Oh, I don’t know how to tell you this, but she left. A while ago. With Benjy. What do you know, I did know how to tell you!” He laughed and patted Sirius on the shoulder. 

The group began a new round of exploding snap. It was all going rather well until one round left Remus with his left eyebrow singed off. James tried to grow it back for him but only managed to create a cascade of hair hanging over his eye, causing Sirius to fall off the couch in laughter. 

“What’s so funny, Black?” a voice asked from the doorway. Sirius sat up and looked for the new voice. Lily and Marlene stood in the doorway. Lily had obviously taken some time to reapply Marlene’s makeup and she looked stunning as ever. 

“Hey, Mar, what kept you?” Sirius asked before James had the chance to stop him. 

Marlene smiled grimly and replied, “I flooed over to meet up with Giovanni and caught him with some girl. We fought. I left, now I’m a loser just like the rest of you.” She turned to Peter quickly, “Except you Peter. You and Madison are wonderful”. 

In an effort to change the subject, James pointed to Peter’s pygmy puff. “So, Peter, are you and Madison going to be sharing joint custody of Marcel when we get back?” Madison’s face whitened and she looked at her hands before replying. “I’m, uh, not going back to Hogwarts.” Peter stiffened beside her and squeaked out a weak, “what?” She grabbed his hands and looked him in the eye. “I was going to tell you, I swear!” 

Sirius snorted and muttered, “Well I sure hope so”, before being punched soundly in the shoulder by Marlene. Looking around at all his friends, Peter stood up. “Can we go talk? Privately?” Madison nodded and followed him, tears quickly threatening to fall.

Peter closed the door to the library and spun around to face Madison. “What do you mean you aren’t going back?!” He stared at her before continuing, “Why didn’t you say anything before?”. Madison reached out to grab Peter’s hand as her tears began to fall. “My parents found out about the war. I’m muggle born. It’s not safe for me anymore. They’re taking me out of school and we’re moving.” 

Wiping a tear off her face, Peter whispered, “but why didn’t you tell me? Were you just going to leave me alone on the train, wondering where you were?”. She shook her head violently. “No! No I swear! I was going to tell you! I just wanted to be able to enjoy tonight. With you. I didn’t want to have to think about it.”

Peter sighed and pulled her close. Kissing her forehead before leaning down to kiss her fully. Madison pulled away and sniffed, wiping new tears away. “Oh, Peter, I can’t do this!” Peter’s stomach dropped, dreading what he knew was about to happen. “Peter I can’t stay. It’s not fair to you. I can’t spend start the New Year with you if I can’t finish it with you.” 

She let out a shaky sob and made to turn away, but Peter grabbed her hand and stopped her. Wrapping his arm around her waist, he looked at her. “I love you, Madison.” She laughed and leaned her head on his shoulder. “I love you too”, she replied before kissing him. Madison broke the kiss and walked to the door. With her hand on the handle, she gave him one last look. “Stay safe, Peter. Please.” Then she was gone; out the door and out of his life.

Returning to what was left of the party, Peter observed his friends. Sirius was on the end of the couch, while Marlene was laid across him and Lily. Her head in Lily’s lap and her feet in Sirius’. James and Remus stood to the side, laughing about something. 

When Lily noticed Peter, she gently pushed Marlene off her lap and stood up and walked over to Peter. She wrapped him in a tight hug and murmured, “I’m sorry Peter”. After Peter returned the hug, she stepped away. 

The station that they had turned the wireless to had begun it’s countdown. Sirius waved his wand to turn the volume up as the all made their way over to Peter and Lily. “Looks like that no date pact worked out after all”, James said grimly. 

“TWENTY SECONDS!” the host called out over the wireless. Sirius spoke up, “The night is still young, we have two ladies here. We could flip a-” He was quickly shut up as Marlene and Lily punched him. 

“10-9-8” Excited by the countdown, Sirius began to bounce up and down. “Somebody kiss me.” Everyone pointedly ignored him. “Somebody kiss me! It’s nearly midnight!” He looked around at his friends. With a laugh James shrugged. “Fine”, James replied as he Sirius’ face and planted a sloppy kiss on his lips as cheers erupted on the wireless as midnight arrived.

The voice of Celestina Warbeck filled the air and Remus looked around at his friends. “Well aren’t we just a glum group,” he asked as he tried to flip the hair from his eyebrow out of his eye. James smiled and put his arms around Remus and Peter as he addressed the group, “At least we all have each other. And Peter, you still have Marcel!” Peter brightened up and began looking around. “Where is he anyway? I left him on the couch”, he asked. 

Lily pointed at the bookshelf, “There he is Peter! How’d he get all the way up there?” Peter laughed and began to walk to the bookshelf to retrieve him. However, Marcel took a step too far over the edge of the shelf. Everyone ran forward in an effort to try to catch him, but it was too late. The purple ball of fluff laid on the floor unmoving, the fall apparently too much for it. 

The group all stood frozen, unsure of what to do. Peter had lost his girlfriend and his new pet, all in the span of an hour. No one knew how to handle the situation. Peter slowly turned around and look at his friends. “Anyone know what rhymes with ‘neck’,” he asked. Sirius snorted and immediately they all burst into laughter. 

Maybe the new year was going to be ok.

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to [ thesciencechannel ](http://archiveofourown.org/users/thesciencechannel/pseuds/thesciencechannel) for agreeing to beta. She'll probably be dreaming of inserting commas for weeks now.


End file.
